Now You'll Know
by Pchefbeth
Summary: This fanfic is based on the previews for the 4th season episode 'All in the Family', however it is very different than what aired. Spoilers for previous episodes including Season 4, but not this episode. Lots of DL and even some Flack and Angell. Enjoy!


_So I saw the previews for the latest episode of CSI NY - __**All in the family**__, and I expected something completely different than the show. So I thought I would write it down and share. No spoilers for last night's episode. All scenes were created solely on the idea of what was shown in the previews alone. However there are lots of spoilers for episodes inearlier showas different characters walk down memory lane. A Main character is hurt and there's Lots of DL angst and a little bit of Flack and Angell (__updated to correct her name from Jessica to Jennifer)__ I hope you enjoy. I do not own the CSI NY Characters, but I wish that I worked with them._

_**Now **__**You'll**__** Know.**_

Danny and Lindsay walked onto their newest crime scene located in an empty warehouse in Brooklyn. Danny lifted up the crime scene tape and allowed Lindsay to pass under before following her. They both stood still for a moment and surveyedthe scene in front of them. Spotting the duty cop, Danny hailed him with a lift of his head in quick greeting and shouted out, "What d'you got?"

The cop walked over and started to give them a run down. "Man found dead, three bullet wounds from what we can see, two in the chest and one in the head." he says pointing towards at the vic, a few feet away lying face down in a pool of blood. "No ID."

"Who found him?" Lindsay asked as she and Danny set down their kits and glove up.

"Those two kids over there." the detective said pointing to a couple of young teenagers sittingoff to the side.

Danny looks at the kids a minute longer and then gives a quick nod. "You take their statements?" he asks. Then nods again when he's given an affirmative. "I'm going to take a look at our vic here, you start taking overalls." he tells Lindsay.

She nods once in agreement but doesn't look at him. She was still too mad at him over what was becoming a recurring argument. _Stubborn man,_ she thought to herself. _If I didn't love him so much I'd shoot him. _

She walked the perimeter of thescene and took some photos of some gravitational blood drops. "It looks like he was still moving after the first shot." she said aloud.

Danny finished taking pictures of the body and had started to flip him over to look at the bullet wounds. He did a double take and stared down at the vic. It couldn't be. The guy was supposed to be in jail. He opened the vic's eye lids just to be sure. Where the whites of the eyes should have been, brilliantly blue eyes stared back unseeing at him. Eye balls that had been tattooed. He knew this face alright. Danny stood up and pulled out his cell phone. Lindsay noticed and started to walk over.

"What's up?" she asked as he dialed.

Danny didn't say anything just yet. He needed to be off this scene and quick.

The phone rang once and then a voice picked up. "Mac Taylor."

"Mac, its Danny. I need to be taken off this case."he said in a rush. "The vic, he doesn't have any ID but I know him." He took a deep breath before continuing. "It's Ollie Barnes, the robber from the bodega."

Lindsay turned back to look at the vic lying on the ground in blood. She hadn't seen him herself when he was brought into the station, but she knew Danny hadgone over that case top to bottom once it was closed, looking for answers that were never going to come. She turned her attention back to Danny as he started to argue with Mac over the phone.

A minute later he hung up the phone and swore aloud. He looked back at the vic and then spoke to Lindsay in a testy voice. "Mac and Stella are at a DB in Harlem and Hawkes is due in court this morning. He can't get anyone else over here. He wants us to process the scene and then he'll get Hawkes to take over when we get back to the lab."

Lindsay stood looking at him a moment, unsure of how to proceed. Lately whenever she tried to comfort him, he usually just bit her head off. She decided to take a page out of his book. She handed him the camera she was holding. "You take the overall's, I'll work on the body." she told him. When he made no move to take the camera, she took a step closer and said in a low voice. "We do the job."

Dannygave one of his typical half shrugs half nods and said sarcastically, "Right, the job." Then took the camera from her and headed back to where she had been canvassing previously.

Lindsay watched him for a moment longer then knelt by the body and got to work. The sooner they were done the sooner she could get Danny out of there.

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Back at the lab Lindsay breathed in deep and let it out slowly. She wasn't sure just what to do anymore. Danny was wallowing in grief and she didn't know how to help him cope. He had left her alone when she'd asked, but she was finding it hard to do the same. He was just so sad all the time. It was starting to affect his work, and it had certainly taken its toll on their relationship. He was barely sleeping, and when he did he had horrible dreams. He didn't want to be comforted, and rarely touched her anymore. He'd stayed over at her place again last night, mostly because she knew he didn't want to go to his apartment and have to walk past Rikki's door. They'd been arguing a lot, mostly because Danny could be so stubborn. He'd just stormed off after getting back to the lab. He'd made a phone call and found out that the Ollie Barnes had been released yesterday because his lawyer had copped a plea. He was due to testify at a hearing today. He'd blown up and said he was going for a walk. Shepursed her lips and blew her hair out of her face and resolved to get her focus back on the evidence in front of her.She had analyzed the shoe print that they found at the scene.Who ever shot the vic had walked in an oily substance and left a partial shoe print at the scene. The shoe treads were worn and distinctive, but the size itself was small. Lindsay thought back to the teenage boys that had found the body and tried to remember their feet. She didn't think either one was a match but wanted to wait to run her idea past Danny when he returned.

As she was finishing with the printshe heard a knock on the lab glass window and looked up to see Flack standing there with a uniform cop and two civilians. He gave her a 'come here' motion with his hand and he didn't look happy. Curious she took off her gloves and walked out into the hallway.

"Lindsay," Flack said. "Have you seen Messer?"

Unwilling to say what was going on Lindsay simply said, "He went for a walk. I don't expect him back for a while."

Flack noddedabsently and motioned towards the group standing behind him. "This is Lucy Burke and her lawyer Mr. Perez. She's-" he started uncomfortably.

"-the one who shot Rueben." she saidsuddenly putting the face with the name.

"I didn't mean to," Lucy began but her Lawyer interrupted her.

"Detective Monroe, my client is being arraigned today on the charge of Involuntary Manslaughter. We are here hoping to ask Detective Messer if he'd speak on Ms. Burke's behalf."

Lindsaywas taken aback by the request. "You want Danny to speak at your arraignment?" she asked perplexed.

"We are hoping to show that while the death of the little boy was undeniably regrettable; my client was merely acting in her own self defense. I believe," he continued pompously "that we will be able to get the charges reduced with time served."

Lindsay felt her temper rising and struggled to keep her cool. "That little boy had a name- Rueben Sandoval. You could at least remember it." She turned to the girl. "Involuntary manslaughter at the most carries a sentence of 2 years. 2 years! I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that this little stunt wasn't your idea. Accept the responsibilities for your actions. Serve your sentence. You'll still have your entire life ahead of you when you get out. Reuben will never have his back."

The lawyer cleared his throat at her words and started again. "Detective Messer should then also hold some of the blame. After all he was with the young boy when he was shot and did nothing to prevent..."

Lindsay saw red and Flack caught her before her fist landed on the lawyers face.

"You get him out!" she spat out furiously to the uniform standing beside them.As the cop moved Lucy and her Lawyer away and down the hall, Lindsay turned her fury on Flack. "You were going to ambush him with this!" she said livid.

Flack held up his hands in surrender. "I was in the station when they came by, and when I heard what was going on I offered to drive, not," he said before Lindsay could interrupt, "because I agree with them, but because I wanted to make suresomeone kept Messer calm."He looks ather and asked quietly, "Where is he Lindsay?"

Lindsay takes a deep breath and sighs. "I don't know."

Flack grimaces and gives a quick nod."I'm going to stay with these two," he says jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the retreating group, "just in case we run into him. You tell him to call me, alright?"

Lindsay nodded in agreement and Flack turned and escorted Ms. Burke and her lawyer out.

Outside as they are loading Ms. Burke into the squad car, Flack looks up to see Detective Jess Angell walking by with Mac and Stella. Flack gives a quick nod and she smiles and walks over.

"They got you on escort duty now?"she asks curiously looking at the car. "Or are you just trying to get out of doing your paperwork." she teases.

"Purely voluntary." he assures her. "Just someone that wanted to stop by for a little chat. You get the DB in Harlem this morning?" He saidnodding his head towards Mac and Stella.

She nods. "It's going to be a long day."

"Yeah, me too." He stands there for a moment trying to think of something else to say, but nothing comes to him."Well," he says looking at the car. "I'd better get going."

She smiles at him. "You have a good one."

"Yeah, you too." he says as he walks around to the drivers side door.

Angell turns and walks away and Flack looks up before he gets in the car to watch her. He gets in the car and doesn't see her throw a glance back his way over her shoulder at him before he drives away.

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A half and hour later Lindsay is in the lab working on some fingerprints found at the scene and she's on the other side of the table from Hawkes who's briefing Mac and Detective Angell on his results from their Harlem shooting whenMac's phone rings.

"Mac Taylor." he says into the receiver and after a moment his eyes go wide. "Lindsay, Hawkes grab your kits, now, let's go!" he says and he immediately heads for the door shucking his lab coat as he goes. Detective Angell follows Mac with Lindsay and Hawkes right behind trying to catch up as Macrushes towards the car.

"What happened?" Angell asks.

"Flack's car was ambushed, there's an officer down at the scene."Mac says.

Lindsay and Hawkes share a quick look of concern and they all pick up their pace as they head for the car.

When they arrive on the scene they find Flack's carsurrounded by glass and police tape. Lindsay can see five bullet holes just in the passenger side of the car.Mac makes his way over to EMS looking for answers on who was shot, and Angell, Hawkes and Lindsay follow him.They find Flack sitting on a gurney covered in blood arguing with a medic about going to the hospital.

He looks up to see Mac and starts firing off the answers to the questions he knows are coming."The shooter was on the passenger side of the car,"he says attempting to stand as the medic tries to hold him back. "We stopped at a light and then we started taking fire. It came out of nowhere."Flack shrugs off the medic and starts walking over to the car.

"Flack,"Mac says holding up his hand to stop him, "you alright?"

Flack nods. "I caught flying glass and a graze. The uniform on the passenger side caught one in the chest before I could get out of range.This is mostly his blood. He's on his way to Mercy right now."He continues to walk towards the bullet ridden squad car. "We were coming from this direction," he says pointing down the street "and we stopped here at the light." As they got closer to the car Lindsay could see the body in the back seat slumped over, the handcuffs still on her.

Lindsay gives Flack a lookas she recognizes Lucy Burke.

"She was dead when the paramedics got here. Flack said grimacing. "I countedfour rounds, one through the head."

"What were you doing on escort duty?" Mac asks.

Flack gave Lindsay a brief look, and then answered him. "That's Lucy Burke. She's the girl who shot-"

"-Rueben Sandoval." Mac finishes for him.

"That's right. Her lawyer had some crazy idea to talk to Danny and see if he'd be willing to testify at her arraignment today."

"I take it Danny said no." Mac said turning to look at Lindsay when he said it.

Lindsay looked uncomfortable for a moment and then said, "He wasn't there when they came by. I spoke to them."

"Where is Danny?" Mac asked looking between Flack and Lindsay.

Lindsay shook her head and said, "He went for a walk almost an hour ago. Said he needed to cool off."

Macthought for a minute, nodded and got to work. "Lindsay, you start calling Danny. Find out where he is. Hawkes I want you taking overalls we'll work on the bullets. I want to find out where the shooter was.

Flack pointed in a direction off to the right of the car near some construction. "The shots had to be coming from somewhere over there."

Mac nodded. "We'll let trajectory tell us from where.You need to get over to the hospital and get yourself looked at."

Flack shook his head. "I'm fine it's just a graze."

Angell stepped forward and took him by his uninjured arm. "Come on Flack, I'll take you." she offered.

Flack looked like he was going to protest some more but then he relented. He looked at Mac. "Call me when you find something." he said.

Mac nods at him and gloves up to start processing.

----------------------------------------------------------

Lindsay is standing off to the side watching Mac process Lucy Burke's body while she tries to reach Danny. His voicemail kicks on again for the third time.

"Danny, she begins her voice a little frantic now."I need to talk to you. Flack's been injured and we're trying to get in touch with you. His car was ambushed and we've got an unknown shooter." She hesitated for a moment but figure that he needed to know. "Danny, the woman who shot Rueben, she was in the car, and she was shot and killed." Lindsay turned to look back at Mac and stepped a few feet farther away from the car. "Danny," she said quietly, "please call me. I'm worried. I know it's probably nothing and that you're not picking up the phone because you're still mad, but please, please call. If not me, then call Mac, alright? I love you." shesaid and disconnected the call. Looking at her phone and willing him to call wasn't going to help, so she walked over to the other side of the car where Hawkes was working on the trajectory.

He looked up as she joined him. "Any luck?" he asked.

Lindsay shook her head 'no' as she pulls on some gloves."His phone goes straight to voicemail. I've left 3 messages."

"Take a look at this." Hawkes says to Lindsay. He had lined uptrajectory lasers from the bullet holes and they all pointed towards the right side of the road, near a large construction sign. "Looks like that's where the shooter was standing."

Lindsay nods her head at him. "Then let's see what they left behind."

They head over to search the area. Hawkes starts to search around the sign testing for GSR to find where the shooter was standing. Positive for GSR. The spread pattern indicates that they were right behind the sign using it to block them from view. He bent down to looka little closer. "Based on the height of radius of this pattern, I think we're looking at a short shooter. Do you think this could be gang related?" he asks her. "Maybe shooting cops is some sort of new gang initiation ritual."

Lindsay is walking through the area talking overalls. While shooting she spots something in the dirt just behind the sign and moves over to take a closer look.

"It's a shoe print."" Hawkes says noticing Lindsay's stare.

"Hawkes, I think I've seen this shoe print before." She starts to take pictures of the prints. "Ineed to this back to the lab to be sure.

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Back at the lab Mac walks up to Lindsay at the computer doing a virtual comparison of the shoe prints.

"What do you have?" he asks her.

"I've confirmed the shoe print from both crime scenes are a match. It's the same tread in both places. I even found an oil residue at the second scene that came from the first."

"So we're looking at one shooter."

Lindsay nods.

Hawkes walks in and says "No match in the system from the casings that we pulled at the scene, but I was able to confirm that the bullet from our warehouse vic, is the same as the one we pulled from the car. They came from the same gun."

"So," Mac says, "we've got two crime scenes and the only things these victims have in common is a 10 year old boy. What did Sid say our time of death was on the warehouse vic?"

Hawkes flips through the autopsy notes from the file and finds it. "Here it is, time of death between 2 and 3:30 am last night."

Mac turns to look at Lindsay. "Was Danny with you last night?"

Lindsay blushes for a moment but nods 'yes'. "We were at my place. He was there the whole night Mac, he never left."

Mac nods his head. "Then we need to find the only other person that's connected to these two victims. We need to find Rueben's mother."

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Stella walks into the lab with some papers as Mac is finishing leaving Danny another message.

"What do you have Stella?" he says to her as he hangs up his phone.

Mac, Rikki Sandoval got issued a gun permit just three days ago." She puts the copies of the permit papers down on the lab table in front of Mac as Lindsay and Hawkes stand behind her. "It looks like she's out for revenge."

"I can't believe that," Lindsay says. "I've met this woman; she was a single mother, not prone to violence."

Mac gives Lindsay a wry smile and says "The death of a loved one is devastating, and it takes some people years to learn to live with it. You never actually get over it, you just learn to get through."

"Well," said Stella "it looks like Rikki decided that revenge was the only way for her to cope."

"And she's going after those she feels are responsible for her son's death." Hawkes finishes.

Lindsay's eyes get very big at Hawkes words. "Mac," she says her voice suddenly full of fear."Danny has been blaming himself for Rueben's death. What if Rikki does too?"

Mac nodded. "We'll get a fix on his cell and find him, but in the meantime we need to find Rikki Sandoval. Let's start with her place. Let's go."

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Once in they get to Danny's apartment building they spilt up. Stella and Mac head for Rikki's apartment and Lindsay and Adam head for Danny's apartment.She lets herself in with a key and Hawkes follows her inside. Hawkes goes to check the rooms to look for a sign of him anywhere. Lindsay stops in front of the pool table in his living room and stares around the room looking for any sign of him.

"Lindsay." Hawkes calls from inside his room.

She follows him inside to find clothes strewn on Danny's bed.

"That's the shirt that he was wearing this morning." Lindsay confirmed.

"There are wet towels in the bathroom too." Hawkes said nodding towards the bathroom. "It looks like he was here recently. There's still steam on the mirror."

Lindsay walked over to his nightstand and opens the top drawer. She pulls out Danny's gun still encased in its safety lock. "He's not armed." Lindsay says fearfully as she continues to wonder where he could be.

They leave Danny's apartment and head over to Rikki's apartment where Mac and Stella join them at the door. "Anything?" Hawkes asks Stella while Lindsay calls the lab to see if Danny has shown up there. Stella looks over at Lindsay making sure she can't hear. We found some pictures and a note but no sign that's she's been inside in a while.

"Adam," Lindsay says when the tech answers. "Is he there?"

"No," Adam says, "still no sign of him. But I'm ready to triangulate his signal now, hold on."

Mac walks over to Lindsay and she relays Adam's message.

"Coming up now.." Adam says "-Got it. His cell phoneis on. It's between 821 and 823 190th street. That's less than 2 blocks from where you are now."

Lindsay relays the message to Mac and he takes her phone.

"Adam, try this number we found for Rikki Sandoval, 555-0461."

Adam entered the numbers and her position popped up. "Mac, I've got her!" he say's excitedly. "She's less than 4 blocks from where you are now, 192nd street and she's moving away from your position."

Mac hangs up the phone and starts moving downstairs with the rest of the team following on his heels.

Detective Angell meets them outside with several heavily armed cops and Mac starts barking out orders."Hawkes, Lindsay -you go find Danny, you keep him away from her, get him back here and keep him here. You cuff him if you have to." he says looking at Hawkes. He looks over at Stella. "Stella and I are going after Rikki." He gives the team coordinates and they hop in the cars and start moving while Hawkes and Lindsay head over to Danny's location on foot.

Lindsay and Hawkes find the alley between the buildings that Adam gave them, but there's no sign of Danny anywhere. Lindsay calls Adam again looking for an update while Hawkes looks for open doors in the alley that he might have gone into.

"He's not here Adam." Lindsay says frantically.

"He has to be there Lindsay," Adam says confused, "his signal's coming in strong, he's not moving."

Hawkes walks a little deeper into the alley and spots a cell phone on the ground. "Lindsay!" he calls out, and she runs to his side. "He was here." Hawkes says as he picks up the phone.

"But where is he now?" Lindsay asks.

Hawkes opens up the phone and see's the screen still active. "Lindsay." he says holding it up for her to see. "He was trying to dial 911."

Fear flooded the pit of Lindsay's stomach. "We have to find him Hawkes."

"He came this far into the alley."Hawkes says while looking around. "Let's keep going in this direction and see if we can't find another clue. Come on."

Down the street Mac, Stella and Angell are reviewing a map of the nearby buildings and getting their bearings on the alley. Stella points to the map. "The alley has three entrances and we've blocked off two of them. We'll intercept them here." she says pointing to a place on the map. She breaks off suddenly. "Shh," she says. "Do you hear that?"

Mac and Angell listen. They can hear a woman's voice coming from close by and she's yelling.

"That's her."Mac says with certainty and they reach for their guns to move out.

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He was a mess and he knew it. He just couldn't help himself. Everything in his life was so screwed up. He was so tired. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Rueben's body being wheeled into Autopsy. He saw the look on his mother's face as he had to tell her what had happened. '_If only'_, he thought. His life was composed of if only's. If only he hadn't hurt his wrist, if only he didn't always get an attitude and mouth off. Lindsay was the only thing lately he had that he didn't regret and even lately he'd been screwing that up too. He just wasn't cut out for this stuff. _MaybeI 'm not cut out to be a cop anymore either_, he thought somberly. He just couldn't do anything right anymore._ Rueben lost his life because of my mistake_, he thought bitterly to himself as he walked down the street.

He'd been walking for hours when he found himself in front of his apartment door. He hadn't been home in three days. He hated walking down the hall knowing that Rueben wasn't going to pop up from somewhere waiting for him to come home. Waiting to pepper him with questions about his day. To knock on his door early on a Saturday morning to see if he wanted to go and play some ball. To show him his newest bike bike. He'd gotten it back to Rikki last week. Lindsay hadsuggested that she might want it, and so he did some paper work in order to see it returned to her. She hadn't said a word to him the entire time he'd been there dropping it off. She just stood there silently and stared at him with those empty eyes.

Danny blinked his eyes full of unshed tears and rubbed them with his fingers. A shower. That's what he needed. A long hot shower would help him clear his mind. He knew he had to get back to work. Mac had agreed to take him off the warehouse vic's case but he still had a mountain of paperwork that he needed to get done. He'd apologize to Mac for taking such a long lunch. _And Lindsay,_ he thought as he stepped into the shower and ducked his head under the warm spray. He'd apologize to her later also. She was trying so hard to cheer him up. She kept telling him that she understood what he was going through. That she knew what it was he felt, but he knew it wasn't the same. She didn't cause the death of her friends, but he had caused Rueben's.

The shower hadn't made him feel much better when he was done. _I'll think better with some food_ he thought as his stomach rumbled. He threw on some clean clothes and put his wallet and cell phone in his jacket pocket. He took his badge but when he went to get his gun out ofhis drawer he sat down on the edge of the bed and held it in his hands for a moment. He made up his mind quickly and put it back in the drawer. _I'll stop by on my way back from the store and pick it up,_ he thought.

He walked past Rueben's door with a sad frown and headed out to the street. He didn't see the small shadow start to follow him as he walkeddown the street. It was early evening andthe gloom of thefading sun cast long shadows down the sidewalk.Danny pulled out his cell phone to call Lindsay. It had been turned off all afternoon and she'd left him 5 messages. Danny was so lost in thought about what he was going to say to her that he didn't hear anyone come up behind him. He didn't notice anything until he heard a quiet voice behind him say his name.

"Messer!"

He stopped and turned around as he recognized the voice.

"Rikki-" he started, but faltered when he saw the gun she held in her hands aimed at him. "Rikki, what are you doing." He asks her slowly." Where did'ga get the gun?"

Rikki waved the gun and motioned for him to enter the narrow alleyway directly behind him. "In there." she said quietly. "Not another word."

Danny turned around and started moving slowly down the alley. He had his cell phone still clenched in his fist and he tried to dial 911 without being seen, but she noticed.

"Drop it."she says as she pushes the gun into his back.

Danny stops walking and lets the phone fall to the ground.

Rikki- he tries again.

"I said no talking!" she says this time more anxiously. She prods him with the gun to his back againand gets him moving deeper into the alley and away from the street.

He moved slowly in the hopes of finding someplace where he could make a move and try to get the gun away from her, but the alley was to narrow. He was afraid that she'd shoot the gun and actually graze him in the process. If he went to the hospital with a gunshot wound he'd have to report it and they'd arrest her. He didn't want that.

She took him to a little more open area behind some buildings where there were no windows. _No one would even hear a gunshot._ he thought to himself. He was contemplating making his move when she pointed the muzzle of the gun to the back of his head. "Kneel, on the ground, now." she said and then took a small step away.

He complied slowly and put his hands on his head for good measure. She walked around to face him now the gun still pointing at his head.

"What are you doing Rikki?" he asked again quietly.

"Shut up." Rikki said quietly.

"You can't-" he tried again.

"Shut up!" she said this time louder, her eyes wide and her nostrils flaring.

Danny looks at her now able to see herup closefor the first time. He notices that her hair is matted like she hasn't brushed or washed it in days, and that her clothes look rumpled and she has what looks like blood spatter on the front of her shirt. "Rikki," he says quietly, "whose blood is that?" he asks her trying to stay calm.

"It was all because of him," Rikki mumbles slowly. "He started the whole thing. It was all because of drugs too. All over drugs. My boy died and it was all because of him!" he voice getting louder with each sentence. "He should have never been there that day. If he'd been anywhere else my boy would have lived."

Danny felt the bottom of his stomach drop as he realized what she was saying. "Ollie Barnes, Thevic in the warehouse," he says in disbelief. "The guy who robbed the Bodega. You killed him? You did that?"

Rikki shook the gun at Danny's head. "He killed my baby!" she screamed, her voice echoing on the buildings around him.

For the first time Danny tasted fear in his mouth, the metallic taste as he realized that she was truly delusional and might very well kill him. _No one knows where I am_, he thought to himself. _I'm never going to see Montana's face again_ he thought as grief welled up in him. _Keep it cool Messer. Just keep her talking_.

"Where did you get the gun Rikki." he asks her while trying to steady his voice. "I know you don't have one."

She visibly softens and answers a little quieter. "I bought it three days ago."

"To shoot Ollie Barnes?" he asks her.

She shook her head no as tears start pouring down her face. "I bought it for me" she says her voice trembling with grief.

Danny visibly blanched.

"I want to be where my Rueben is, but I..."she trails off "I...couldn't do it. I couldn't kill myself." She sobs.

Danny sways a little on his knees like he's going to try to stand, but she points the gun at his head again.

"When I heard they were releasing him, I just knew. I knew what I had to do. I followed him after he left his parole officer, and I followed him to the warehouse. I shot him." she says her eyes wide as she smiles a little in triumph. "He'll never hurt anyone ever again."Then her face gets cold and rage crosses her features again. "Then **he** came to my door this morning."

"Who?" Danny asks.

"That lawyer." she spits outwaving the gun.

"What lawyer?" Danny asks confused.

"Her Lawyer. The one who shot my baby!"

"Lucy Burke." Danny confirms his heart sinking further."What did the lawyer tell you?"

"He said she wasn't to blame," Rikki said angrily clenching her teeth around the words she uttered as she gripped the gun tighter. "She was going to plea and get a reduced charge. He said she wouldn't even serve jail time! It's not right!" She took a breath before continuing..."So I made it right."

"Rikki what did you do?"

"She was in police custody on her way to the courthouse. Her lawyer even told me they were going to see you," she said waving the gun at him, "at the precinct. I waited for the car to go by and then I shot at the car."

"You shot at a police car?" He asked her his head swimming.

Her rage returned with force as she screamed at him. "She killed my baby! Its what they all deserved for killing my boy!"

Danny ears perked up as he heard footsteps and suddenly he saw cops starting to swarm the back part of the alley.

Rikki heard it too and moved behind him and putting the gun to his head urged him to his feet to use him as a shield.

Danny heard Mac's voice calling his name.

Rikki scanned the cops surrounding her and Danny could hear her labored breath in his ear as she jabbed the gun hard against his head.

"Don't move or I'll kill him." she shouts to the cops. "I'll kill him!!"

"Mac." Danny hollered out.

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Lindsay and Hawkes are still wandering down the alleyway when they hear a woman's voice yelling and thenMac yell Danny's name. They take off running towards the sound, Lindsay outrunning Hawkes as she hears Danny yell out.

Hawkes yelled for Lindsay to slow down, but she doesn't stop and runs into the alleyway not 20 feet behind Danny and Rikki. She spots Rikki holding a gun to Danny's head and she doesn't even think, she just yells his name.

Mac yells to her in warning as Danny and Rikki both turn at the sound.

Rikki says something low enough that only Danny can hear and she turns the gun away from his head, aims at Lindsay and fires.

Time seems to slow down as he watches the bullets hit her. He's moving even Lindsay hits the ground, no longer even caring about the gun that was just at his head.The moments start to blur as he runs towards Lindsay, distantly hearing more gunshots. He dives to her side reaching her just seconds after Hawkes does.

Hawkes is already putting pressure on the bullet hole in her shoulder and her side.

Danny cradles Lindsay's face, and calls her name over and over. "Montana! Lindsay... Lindsay! Come on baby." Her eyes won't open.

Mac and Stella reach them and as they try to help. Detective Angell is in the background on her radio calling desperately for a bus. "Officer Down, Officer Down."

Mac tries to get Danny away from her so that Hawkes can work, but Danny shakes him off and continues to stroke her face, tears falling from his own, while Stella peels off her jacket and helps Hawkes as he tries to stop the flow of blood.

The paramedics arrive and Mac has to physically restrain him so that they can load her onto the gurney, but he can't stop him from crawling into the back of the ambulance with Hawkes as they race to the hospital. Inside the paramedics intubate her to give her CPR and try to keep her heart going.

Danny keeps calling her name, trying to get her to respond. "Open your beautiful eyes Montana. Squeeze my hand baby, something please."

They get to the hospital in minutes and the doctors rush her into surgery. Hawkes stands with Danny outside the O.R. as they watch them work on her through the window.

"Tell me she's going to be OK Hawkes, just tell me that." Danny pleads.

Hawkes shakes his head sadly. "I don't know man. I just don't know what type of damage the bullets did."

Mac and Stella arrive a few moments later and they all finally convince Danny to have a seat in the nearby waiting room.

Mac sits down next to Danny and gives the others a look. Stella catches on takes Hawkesto go check on Lindsay's condition.

"Danny," he begins. "We went into Rikki's apartment earlier. She wrote a note explaining that she bought the gun to commit suicide, but couldn't pull the trigger. She wanted to make the ones pay who took her son's life."

Danny nods as he absorbs it. "And I was supposed to be the final act."

Mac clears his throat and pulls out a picture. It's of Danny and Lindsay walking together in the street with their arms around one another."According to the date stamp on this it was taken a few nights ago. In her note she said that she wanted you to live, but was going to take something from you. We think Lindsay was the target all along. Rikki knew she'd come looking for you. That's why she didn't shoot when we showed up. When she fired at Lindsay she knew we'd fire back. It was suicide by cop."

Danny sits back in his chair, his expression stunned."Right before.." Danny trails off his voice thick with emotion, "right before she shot Lindsay she said _Now you'll know_." Danny stares at the picture o fhe and Lindsay a moment, then puts his head in his hands as he remembers the evening the photo was taken.

"We were coming back from dinner, and westarted fighting. Lindsay, she was trying to make me smile. and I wasn't in the mood. She was trying to cheer me up and told her to knock it off. She got mad and we argued. We've been having the same argument a couple of days now. She wanted me to come and stay with her so I wouldn't have to keep coming back to my place. I told her that I didn't think I deserved to be happy right now. That something bad happened to everyone I got close to and I told her she should break up with me before something happened to her. She told me I was mental and wouldn't leave. She wanted me to get counseling. She said that it helped her, but I just kept brushing her off." Danny rubbed his eyes of all the unshed tears and tried to take a deep breath that ended with a choked sob.

Mac put his hand on Danny's shoulder consolingly but says nothing as they sit there and wait in silence.

----------------------------------------------------------

Several hours later the surgeon walks into the waiting room with an update. "She's alive, but she's had some major internal damage. The second bullet nicked her spleen and we had a hard time stopping the bleeding. She's on a respirator now and is in a slight coma. We just have to wait and see. The next 36 hours are critical."

"I want to see her." Danny demands as he stands up.

The doctor starts to shake his head 'no', but Mac gives him a look and he nods his head. "They're wheeling her into recovery now. You can sit with her but only one person at a time."

Danny nods his head mutely in agreement and he follows the doctor down the hallway to her room.

Hewalked into the dimly lit room and stopped when he saw her. He had a hard time seeing Louie in the hospital but to see Lindsay like this, it made him feel weak. He moved slowly around to the far side of the bed and sank down in the chair at her side. He looked up at the machines that every so often gave off a beep, a quiet reminder that they were keeping her alive. He picked up her hand in his. Her skin was so pale. He watched her chest rise and fall as the respirator breathed for her. He would watch her sometimes when she was sleeping beside him. He loved that moment when she opened her eyes and realized that he was beside her. He had from the first moment sheawoke in his arms. He still couldn't believe sometimes that she felt the way she did about him. He stroked the long fingers of her hand and squeezed the palm lightly, willing a response back from her, but her hand remained still in his own. He bent his head over her hand in his and prayed to whatever god was listening as the tears fell freely from his eyes.

----------------------------------------------------------

He was lying on a blanket in Central park next to Lindsay with the warm sun on his face. He's cradling her in his arms as she calls him Cowboy. He's driving her around town on the back of his bike. He's laughing at her miserable attempt to cook spaghetti. He's watching her crawl across the pool table towards him and she's calling his name. _Danny! Danny_! Then suddenly she calls him Messer in what sounds like Flack's voice, and he opens his eyes to find Flack standing over him trying to shake him awake.

Danny blinks a few times trying to focus, and rubs his eyes for good measure, then remembering where he his turns quickly to Lindsay. There's been no change in the last 24 hours. He looks up at Flack and spots his right arm in a sling.

"What happened to you?" he asks bewildered.

"It's just a graze from earlier. I'm on fetch and carry errands for the next little while."He picks up a small duffel bag from the floor and plants it right in Danny's chest. "I was sent to your place to pick up some clean clothes for you to change into after you shower. Mac's orders." Flack adds with a wry grin. "Your smell is starting to scare away the nurses."

Danny blinks some more as he struggles to focus. "How did you get into my place?" he asks.

"Never you mind Messer." says Flack pointing a finger of his uninjured hand at him. "But suffice to say that I went over and was forced to go through your underwear drawer, so you'd better damn well be appreciative."He considers a moment. "The task did have its perks," he said as he looked over his shoulder out the window. "It came with a great chauffeur."

Danny followed Flack's gaze and spied Detective Angell standing outside the room talking toMac.

Flack turned back to Danny, caught his eye and then raised his own eyebrows appreciatively.

"Yeah, alright. Thanks Flack," Danny says flatly, "but I'll shower after Montana wakes up."

"Oh no, I went through a lot of trouble to get you that bag and you're gonna shower." he says walking over behind Danny and forcing him to his feet with his good hand. "When Lindsay wakes up she's going to think she's been sleeping next to a garbage truck." He pushes him towards the hallway. "You're gonna shower today if I have to hold you under the water myself, and I can do that with one arm, so don't tempt me."

"Fine, I'm going." Danny says raising his hand in surrender. He looks towards Mac talking with Detective Angell. "Mac, would you sit with Lindsay for a little while? I don't want her to be alone." he adds.

Mac nods and Danny then heads down the hallway towards the bathroom.

Flack watches Danny go round the corner and then turns to Mac and asks quietly with concern,"How's she doing?"

"Her condition hasn't gotten any better, but it also hasn't gotten worse. She's still in a coma."

Detective Angell stepped a little closer. "Look," she began "Flack and I can take a shift and let you guys go and get something to eat."

Mac shook his head and looked back into the room where Lindsay is lying. "I'm going to stick around a while yet, you go on ahead." and he walks into the room and takes up the seat that Danny just vacated.

Flack looks at Lindsay for a moment and then deciding to stick around takes a seat on one of the sofa's in the hallway. Angell sits down beside him.

Prompting a conversation while they wait she asks, "You know Monroe pretty well?"

Flack leaned back in his seat."I've been working with her for more than a year and a half, but I know her mostly through Danny."

Jenn pulls one leg onto the sofa and turns in her seat to look at Flack and get comfortable. "Why does he call her Montana?" she asks.

Flack chuckles at her words. "We used to have another Detective in the crime lab, but she left and they had a position open. So Mac fills the slot with Lindsay, this unknown crime scene investigator from Bozeman, Montana. Danny was on the first case she worked and he started her out like any other rookie."

Shesmiled at the memory of her own Rookie experience. "Gave her a lot of crap huh."

"Teased her unmercifully. I've always maintained that he was into her from the beginning," Flack mused. "I've never seen him tease anyone like her. So he calls her Montana one day instead of Monroe, and it drives her mad. So of course he sticks with it. Soshe turns out she's good, really good in the lab and even Danny starts to appreciate her more. Mac starts having them work some cases together and they work well together. Real competitive, you know? "He paused for a moment. "So Danny and me, we've been friends for years now. We have this standing happy hour over at a local bar. We hang out, play some pool, you know. So he starts off complaining about having to work with the country girl and then it started changing to Lindsay this and Monroe that. I knew he had it bad after this one case we had. So this suspect had an exotic cuisine restaurant, you heard of these?"

She shook her head.

"You go in and eat these bugs and weird things, like meal worms and live octopus." he explained

Jenn grimaced.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. But Danny got into this stuff, said it wasn't half bad. So he brings back all this stuff from the restaurant and offers it to all of us to try. No one would touch the stuff but Monroe. She picks up this huge deep friend tarantula and takes a bite. You should have seen the look on his face. He bet Mac she wouldn't do it. The rest of us go out to have pizza- Ray's pizza mind you, but he and Lindsay they stay put to enjoy the bugs." Flack shook his head and smirked at the memory. "They used to drive the rest of us crazy. They would flirt all the time, they were so obviously into one another, but they just kept dancing around. Hawkes and I were just like 'just ask her out already', but neither of them would make a move."

"So how did they finally get together?"

"We all worked this robbery/homicidecase about 8 months ago. The perps dressed up like 'Holly Golightly' from Breakfast at Tiffany's. You couldn't tell them apart from one another, they robbed the place and got away using this underground tunnel. We track down one of the perps and find her shot dead at close range. She had some weird trace on her that came back to blood diamonds. It turns out this African guy was in the store trying to sell illegal diamonds and they got picked along with the rest of the jewelry. He figured out who our perps were and held one of them hostage. We had already caught the third when we learned what was going on. We had 5 minutes to get inside the building but I couldn't get an undercover there in time. So Monroe steps up and volunteers to go in. She was the same size and shape as the others and figured that they wouldn't know the difference."

"Gutsy." Jenn commented.

Flack nodded in agreement. "We sat in the truck listening to her wire. She had a flash bang grenade in a bag she carried. If she got in trouble she just had to set it down. Turns out the guy had pictures of all three girls so he knew Monroe wasn't one of them right away. He pulled a gun on her and we started moving. Danny flew out of the truck so fast and ran inside. Lindsay set the grenade off and even managed to get the hostage out of harms way before we got in. We go in andStella and I have got the guy on the ground, and the next thing I know Danny's already on the otherside of the room and he's got Monroe in his arms. We got EMS in there and he wouldn't let go of her long enough to let them look her over. When he finally did he hovered around before he took her home." Flack frowned as he tried to remember details. "They still weren't dating right away though. They were even more tense around each other for a while. Monroe had to go home to Montana to testify in this trial as a material witness. While she was gone Danny was a like a zombie. He worked like 7 days straight, and when I could convince him to go out to a bar or something he would barely talk. She came back after like a month or so and overnight he got better. I don't know what happened, but when she got back they've just been seeing each other ever since."

Danny shuffled around the corner where he'd been listening to Flack's conversationforthe last few minutes. He walked past them on the couch and stopped just outside the window of Lindsay's room, and crossed his arms. "I flew to Bozeman before the end of the trial." he said talking more to himself than to Flack and Jennifer.

Flack has been surprised by Danny's sudden entrance and was confused by his words. "Wait, you actually flew to Bozeman? When?"

"It was after that Luke Blade case." Danny said, not moving from his position at the window.

"The Houdini nut job?" Flack exclaimed.

Danny nodded and Flack gave Jenn a confused look and stood up to stand next to Danny at the window as he kept talking.

"I got off work after like a 3 day shift, and all I could think about was Lindsay testifying. I wanted to talk to her, but I was so tired that it made more sense to me to just fly there rather than pick up the phone. I got there just as she started to testify. It was so hard for her to talk about, she was just a kid when everything happened, you know. But she sat there and looked that bastard square in the face and said her piece. I was so proud of her. I never told her that." he said quietly.

Flack still looked a little shell shocked at this revealing news. He glanced inside and saw Mac sitting next to Lindsay's bedside. "Does Mac know?" Flack asked in disbelief.

Danny nodded with a sad smirk.

Detective Angell stood up from her seat on the couch and stood beside Flack and gave him a pointed look and glanced at Danny.

Flack caught on after a quick minute. "Uh, yeah. Look man, why don't you get some sleep. Mac's sitting with Lindsay and she's not going anywhere. We can drop you off at your place. Maybe get you something to eat..." he trailed off as Danny shook his head 'no'.

Danny shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot as he spoke."I keep thinking if I close my eyes, even for a second, I'm going to wake up and she'll be gone."

Mac saw them standing outside and he gets out of his chair to come over and talk to them. "Danny-" he began, but Danny cut him off.

"Say anything you want Mac, just don't tell me I should leave. I'm not going anywhere."

"Danny," he started again. "You should get some rest. Go home."

"You gonna try to order me Mac?" Danny said angrily, his temper flaring. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his badge and handed it to Mac. "Fine then, take my badge and my gun, take whatever you want, but I'm not going anywhere!" and he stomped back into Lindsay's room and sat down by her side.

Flack looked at Mac with concern and saidquietly. "Mac, he didn't mean that he's just upset-"

Mac raised his hand to stop Flack mid sentence. "Look Flack, why don't you and Detective Angell pick up some food. We'll see if we can't get him to eat something. I'll stay with him right now."

Flack nodded slowly looking back and forth between Mac and his friend and then turned to Jenn. "Do you mind being my chauffeur for just a little bit longer?"

She gave him a small smile and a nod and with one more glance at their friends they headed down the hallway towards the exit.

They were both silent a moment as they walked before she said "He really loves her."

Flack nodded absently, worried for his friend.

Jenn regarded Flack out of the corner of her eye and decided to learn a little something from the story she had just heard. "You know Flack,"she started,"you keep talking about how clueless Messer was in the beginning, but when exactly are you going to make a move? Or do I have to do all the work here?"

Flack started to blush. "I thought you said you liked my game."he said a small smile starting to appear on his lips.

"I'm just waiting to see the rest of it before I buy season tickets." she said as she turned her face to look squarely up at him.

Flack chuckled at her pun, then as smoothly as he could asked,"Want to grab a cup of coffee with me later?"

Jennifer smiled back at him as they continued to walk towards the exit. "I'd like that."

----------------------------------------------------------

Mac regarded Danny through the window of Lindsay's room. He hadn't been kidding when he told Lindsay once that he was no good at this sort of thing, but right now someone needed to have a talk with Messer. He walked into the room and stopped at the foot of Lindsay's bed. She looked so peaceful, almost as if she were just sleeping and would wake up any second and offer to do a demonstration of the latest piece of science she had just discovered. He smiled at the memory of her infectious humor. She was good for Danny. He would have never believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, but they were good together. He spoke aloud as he looked at Lindsay the words coming to him slowly. "Danny-"

"Mac, I'm not leaving!" Danny said, gripping onto Lindsay's hand as though he'd never let her go.

"I'm not here to talk about her," Mac said. "We need to talk about you.What you're becoming. I'm not talking about Lindsay being injured, I'm talking about Rueben."

Danny's eyes flickered up at Mac for a moment and thenhis shoulders slumped. "Everything," he started, "All of this." he gesturedwith his hand at Lindsay. "It's all my fault."

Mac put his hands down on the foot of the bed and leaned slightly forward. "No. None of this," he said gesturing at Lindsay, "any of this is your fault."

"I should have stayed with him." Danny started muttering, his eyes shining bright. "If I had just-"

"If I had just been 15 minutes earlier I would have gotten home in time to kiss my wife good bye. If she had just been running 20 minutes later to work she would never have gotten to work on time. If I had been on duty that morning maybe I could have gotten to the building before it fell. Maybe I would have been inside with her when it fell!" Mac said his voice getting louder.

Danny sat frozen in his seat staring at his boss shocked at his words.

"It doesn't matter if you are to blame or not. Something this big happens to you it becomes part of the grieving process. You run through what happened over and over. You regret and retrace every decision you made. The _'If __only's_ can drive you mad, Danny. Believe me, I know"

Danny sat motionless still holding Lindsay's hand unsure of what to say.

Mac moved closer to the chair. "We're all sitting here right now, because of Rueben's mother and what she did. Believe me when I say I know what she was going through. You want to rage at the world and to scream and cry. But you have to find a way to live with it. I see you going through the same thing I did. Saying the same things and doing the same things. You try to bury yourself in your work; you try to push everyone you care about away from you. You think that you'll find no joy, no peace in the world." Mac hesitated then stood up straigh tand pulled out his wallet. "I won't lie to you and tell you that it's going to be easy. It's going to be one of the hardest things you've ever had to do. But you'll get there." He pulls out a well worn business card and puts it down on the tray table next to Lindsay's bed. "You're going to have to. Because when she wakes up," he said pointing to Lindsay, "she's going to need you, and you need to be able to help yourself first."

"How did you do it?" Danny asked his voice no more than a whisper. "How did you get through it?"

"One day at a time." Mac answers and he places Danny's badge down next to the business card.

"Mac, about that, I'm sorry, I..."

"If my superiors had accepted my badge every time I threw it at them I'd be selling hot dogs on a corner somewhere." Mac said with a small grin and then heturned around and walked back out to the waiting room and sat down.

Danny picked up his badge and the business card and held it in his hand. It read, 'Dr. Solomon, Grief Counselor.'He looked up and caught Mac's gaze through the window and then sat back down at Lindsay's side to think.

----------------------------------------------------------

Hospitals at 3 in the morning were the worst. Danny had been at the hospital now sitting by Lindsay's side for more than 4 days now and there was still no change.The hospital wouldn't let anyone else stay there overnight, so Mac, Stella, Hawkes and Flack had left hours ago, but not before promising to be back at 9. They were all going to trade shifts sitting with him for the next couple of days. Danny leaned back in his chair, exhausted but unwilling to sleep and got up to go look for some coffee. He walked down the hall towards the nurses station in the hopes of finding something that would help him stay awake. He'd been up longer than this before. Hell he normally thrived on little to no sleep, but emotionally he was exhausted. The doctor said that she wasn't showing signs of infection, and that her vitals were strong, but she wasn't waking up. Danny rubbed his hand over his face as he poured a cup of coffee. He took a sip and grimaced at the taste. It was barely lukewarm sludge. He turned to walk back slowly to her room. He was starting to think of it as their room. Even when the others came by he wouldn't leave her. He wanted to be the first thing that she saw when she woke up. He needed to tell her he loved her, and that he was sorry.

He entered the room and glancing at the machines out of habit to see if there was anything new, stood in front of the window and looked out at the night. He twisted his neck to rub out the kinks, and turned to look back at the chair, contemplating trying to catch 20 winks when he stopped and stared at Lindsay's hand. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. He thought he'd saw her fingers twitch. He watched her for another sign, but after a moment, sat down in the chair and slumped his head forward into his hands. He was so desperate for movement, a flicker, anything to show she was coming around that he was starting to see things.

He sat there for a moment, listening to the machines beep quietly, their rhythm never changing. He dozed for a short time, and awoke with a start and rubbed his eyes. It always took him a second to focus. He looked around the room, and heard the soft beep of the machines, and then reached for Lindsay's hand. He stroked her palm for a moment, then ran his fingers lightly on the inside of her arm, past her wrist and up her elbow. She'd told him once that she found it soothing, and he found a small sort of peace in the movement. He clasped her hand gently when he thought he felt her move. He sat still for a moment, and then watched as her fingers curled in reflex. He stood up, still holding her hand and started to softly call her name. "Lindsay? Baby, can you hear me? Let me see those big brown eyes Montana." he pleaded with her. Her eyelids fluttered a moment and then again.

Danny reached over her and hit the 'call nurse' switch. "Come on baby." he muttered as he squeezed her hands, willing her to squeeze his again.

The duty nurse came into the room.

Danny looked up briefly at her. I think she's waking up! he said excitedly.

"Calm down Mr. Messer." She began as she looked at the beeping monitors fora moment and then picked up the bedside phone to page the doctor.

"Montana," Danny said urgently as he stroked her hair. "Montana, you gotta wake up now, you hear me?"

The doctor and another nurse came quickly into the room.

"Her heart rate is up to 110 doctor and she's stirring." the nurse said to the doctor.

The doctor took out a small penlight from his pocket and leaning over the bed, opened her eyelids and flashed a light in one.

"Her pupils are dilating." He checked the respirator and turned it off. "She's breathing on her own." He said as he turned back to Lindsay. "Ms. Monroe," he said gently. "Ms. Monroe. Can you hear me."

Danny's heart leapt as her eyelids fluttered and then blinked slowly open as she tried to focus. "Hey beautiful." he whispered as her eyes opened wide and she looked at him.

"Ms. Monroe," the doctor said again, "you're at Mercy hospital. You've been shot and we've had you on a respirator. We're going to take you offof you now ok?" He disconnected the nozzle from the respirator leaving the mask on her mouth. He looked down at her. On the count of three I'm going to have you take a deep breath in and then let it out, ok? One, Two, Three..." and he pulled the tube from her throat.

Lindsay coughed violently as she struggled to catch her breath.

The doctor made an adjustment to her chart. "Ms. Monroe, don't try to speak right now. Your throat is a little swollen from the tube. I want you to just breath normally, and try to rest. The nurse here is going to give you some more pain medication to help you sleep." Nodding to the nurse he left the room.

The nurse added something to Lindsay's IV bag and left the room.

Danny stood next to her bed,holding her hand and smiling down into her face. "You scared the hell out of me Montana." he began.

Lindsay mouthed the words. "How long?"

Danny swallowed. "You've been in a coma for 4 days. You had us all scared to death. The teams been here every day taking turns sitting with me." He faltered a moment and kissed her hand to cover the emotion in his throat. "I thought I was going to lose you."

Lindsay's eyes watered and a tear slid down her cheek as she mouthed the words, "I love you."

Danny touched his forehead to hers and whispered back, his voice breaking. "I love you too." and he stayed there until she fell back to sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------

Mac walked down the hospital corridor and stopped just outside of Lindsay's room and peered through the window. Where the room had been dark before, now it was bright and cheerful. Flowers of every color filled the surfaces of the room, and a large spray of balloons hung behind the chair that Messer was sleeping in. Mac walked in and found Lindsay wide awake and looking at him. He gave a quiet wave.

"Mac." she said pleased to see him.

How are you feeling, he asked her coming to stand on the free side of her bed.

"Sore, but Ok. They worked me hard in physical therapy today. Several of them still remember Flack from when he was here."

Mac nodded. "Good." He nods over at Danny.

"He's been asleep for almost an hour. I keep trying to get him to go home and sleep in a real bed, but he won't leave. Stubborn man." she mutters affectionately.

"He's why I'm here." Mac answers, and walks around to the other side of the bed and touches Danny on the shoulder.

His head jerks up and he notices Mac standing next to him. "Mac," he says blearily as he rubs sleep from his eyes. "How long have you been here?" he asks.

"He just walked in." Lindsay answers from her bed.

Danny looks over at her and they share a look. He looks back up at Mac and stands up reaching for his coat. "You sure you can do this?" he asks him.

"I've got time." Mac says with a grin.

"What's going on?" Lindsay asks, looking from one to the other.

Danny leans over her bed and kisses her on the forehead. "Mac's going to stay with you while I run out for a little while." he says stroking her hair.

Lindsay looks confused, but nods and says "Ok."

Danny heads out of the room and into the hallway as he puts on his jacket and looks back through the window. He catches Mac's eye, nods at him and heads down the hallway corridor towards the exit.

10 minutes later he gets out of a cab in front of a large brownstone in Manhattan. He walks up the steps and opens the front door. A woman behind a desk smiles at him in welcome. "Detective Messer?" she asks him.

"Yeah, Danny Messer, How you doin'." he replies anxiously.

"She's running just a few minutes behind. Why don't you have a seat."

Danny nods and takes a seat in one of the empty chairs in the room. He picks up a magazine and tries to thumb through it, but he's just too nervous.

The door to the right of the desk swings open and a older red haired woman walks out. She walked towards him as he scrambled to get to his feet. "You must be Detective Messer." she says shaking his hand. I'm Dr. Solomon." She gestures to the open door behind her. "Please, come in."

Danny walks in through the door and sits down in a chair by the window as Dr. Solomon grabs her pad of paper and sits down beside him. He nervously plays with the zipper on his jacket. Grief Counseling. He never thought he would do it. He hated talking to shrinks. But he looked up to Mac Taylor more than anyone in the world, and if Mac could do it, he could sure as hell try. One day at a time.


End file.
